This second of three evening vespers during our Fellows Cohort Retreat at Pendle Hill is co-sponsored by our generous hosts at Pendle Hill and offered as a hybrid gathering. The word vespers comes from the Latin vesper, meaning “evening star,” and in many Christian traditions it refers to a quiet time of prayer, reflection, and spiritual teaching at the close of day; these gatherings will last 30 to 45 minutes. On Tuesday, April the 7th we will reflect on a story of being "released" into ministry in an Evangelical Friends context and on Thursday, April the 9th we will hear about the roles of minister and elder as a dynamic, faithful duo.

In Wednesday's vespers, Kelly Crouch, a ministry fellow of the Friends Incubator for Public Ministry, and their elder Joe Izzo will share the experience of a working group at Friends Meeting of Washington that developed a policy for recognizing and…